Ican Development was formed by Jason Stevens in 2008. As the Head of Learning and Development for a large national retailer and having just achieved the DWF Training Team of the year, Jason went on holiday for a well-earned rest to the Caribbean and made the commitment (whilst sat on a beach with a beer) to set up his own training company. He came home, resigned the next day and the rest is positive history.
“2008 was a bit of a blur to be honest. Leaving my company was a big (perceived) risk and it was the start of the recession so I thought well if you can make it on your own through a global financial crisis then you will be okay when the economy gets better. I had a good network of colleagues and professional friends and they proved invaluable in the first year. I suppose having spent a couple of years in Marketing I had a clear idea of what type of training company I wanted Ican Development to be and to live the principles of Involve, Challenge and Nurture which are still applied today.”
Still in business after one year! That’s quite a relief to anyone who sets up a company on their own I can tell you. Things were going well and we continued to grow our reach with new clients and expanding the network. I was surprised at how little marketing we had to do as exciting projects were presented to us through our contacts having experienced great service themselves. The London Eye, Cheshire County Council and Dalkia were some memorable projects that year. I suppose though, the biggest result was achieving ILM Centre status from the Institute of Leadership and Management. A massive achievement for such a young training company. Management Qualifications are still at the forefront of what we do as they epitomise quality learning and development that can be practically applied back in the workplace.
2010 was a hectic year. We moved to new offices in Chester and worked with some wonderful new clients such as the Countryside Council for Wales and a few clients in UAE and Qatar. The highlight of this year was definitely winning the Training Journal Peer Award for Innovation with our valued client NSL Services. What made it amazing was the fact that we were shortlisted into the category with 23 other companies, including Orange and The Natural History Museum. The NSL programme was designed around Ican Development’s exclusive “I Can Grow People”. This is a comprehensive Team Leader and Management Development Programme that is uniquely different in how it engages with participants to think about their role as a manager or leader using a simple metaphor.
At this point we has a great range of services and products to offer. Professional Accreditations meant we could offer a range of products from Human Synergistics such as Life Styles Inventory and Organisational Culture Inventory and the ILM 72 and Mental Toughness performance instruments from AQR. We also designed our first personality type questionnaire based on the four humors which we still often use today as it’s simple to understand and people love it!
360 feedback for the British Council using Life styles inventory which we believe is still on of the best personal effectiveness 360 tools out there. It has literally helped millions of people all over the globe.
This was the year we set up our sister company “Executive Insight”. Our own suite of 360 performance enhancers and development programmes.
Executive Insight is a flexible, fast paced and no-nonsense provider of 360 Degree Feedback for Top Teams and Execs.
We provide the facts (very quickly) about how effectively the Senior Team work together and lead the organisation. We can also measure the effectiveness and performance of teams at operational level accurately.
Executive Insight provides simple to understand reports that will target a clear path going forward to shape individual and team success.
2014 was another busy year with an interesting and useful addition to the services we offer. We’re still mad about the core areas of the business but this year saw the development of our Open Learning materials design service. From Retail Ops / Learning Manuals to Apprentice Workbooks and Manager Guides we really immersed ourselves in the projects and now also have a brilliant graphic designer to support this type of work.
